As a character study, Ip Man: The Final Fight would be more convincing if it didn’t look so distractingly like a Hollywood musical.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young
Wong is such a fine, subtle actor that it comes as a surprise to find him a superb martial artist as well, as he convincingly demonstrates the superiority of Ip Man’s technique over competing schools.
Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan
The world may not get another Ip Man film for a while after the last few years, but this one and Wong’s masterpiece should be more than sufficient.
From fawning beginning to maudlin close, it’s a monotonous, wannabe-mythmaking biopic for Ip completists only.
The New York Times by Nicolas Rapold
Seriously, if not always elegantly, the film portrays the great Ip Man as someone trying to survive, which is to say just as often a victim as a victor.
This is the rare martial-arts film where the martial arts are tedious and the conversations more compelling.
Not quite a biopic, the film presents an overview of Ip's years in Hong Kong; Anthony Wong's dignified performance begins with the grandmaster almost fully formed.
Los Angeles Times by Robert Abele
The overall sense is of a rushed, simplistic installment in a well-worn biography franchise.
RogerEbert.com by Simon Abrams
The filmmakers fall over themselves trying to respect Man's outlook on life, and this makes their subject seem more like a hyper-disciplined saint than a world-reknowned, ass-kicking hermit.